


Liar's Game

by MissTangle



Series: Whumptober 2018 [4]
Category: Mission: Impossible (Movies)
Genre: But worse!, Established Relationship, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I didn't go into detail though, I don't have the stomach, I still couldn't decide if it was graphic violence or not though, In which Benji is a strong and capable field agent, It's here to stay folks, Kinda like my last fic, M/M, Torture, Whumptober 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-17
Updated: 2018-11-17
Packaged: 2019-08-24 21:14:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16647908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MissTangle/pseuds/MissTangle
Summary: Benji's being interrogated for information, but he's not about to talk any time soon. Circumstances change a little when he discovers that he's not the only one who's been caught.





	Liar's Game

**Author's Note:**

> As promised, I'm back at it with Whumptober. And still in order, too! I can't promise that'll last, though. "Poisoned" requires just a little too much research for me right now. I'll make sure everything is put in order on the series page, though, even if they get posted out of order.
> 
> Anyway, I present to you... Whumptober Day 3: "No, stop!"

Benji wasn’t exactly sure how he’d ended up here. He couldn’t remember what had happened before this very clearly. All he was sure of now was that these people wanted information out of him, and they were prepared to hurt him to get it.

He knew this because he’d refused. And they’d made him hurt.

Benji knew he wasn’t going to give in, no matter how bad it got. He couldn’t. Besides, he’d been trained for this. He could take it. Even if it killed him. He was a field agent. It was his job.

He was scared to die, of course, but he’d long since come to terms with the fact that something like this was going to happen sooner or later. He’d accepted that he’d die in the field one day, even though he wasn’t quite ready for it to happen. Not that it mattered anymore, since it seemed that the day had arrived, or at the least was very close.

It went on for a while. Benji wasn’t sure quite how long. Hours? Days? He was having trouble keeping track. Every so often somebody would walk into the little room where he was being kept, ask him the same question, and make him suffer in a myriad of ways when he refused to answer. His voice was hoarse from screaming. He supposed it didn’t matter much. He had nothing to say to these people. He wouldn’t even give them the satisfaction of a snarled retort.

Then something changed.

The door opened, but instead of the usual random thug with orders to make him talk, there was a voice. A voice that made Benji’s heart pound with a new kind of fear. No longer fear for his own life, but fear for someone else’s.

That voice belonged to Ethan.

A moment later, Ethan was hauled into the room, struggling and talking back the entire time. It was only when he saw Benji that he stilled, words dying on his tongue as he assumed a purely passive expression. Benji did the same, hoping to hide his fear, praying that their captors couldn’t hear his heart thumping against his ribs.

So they’d gotten Ethan too. Benji still couldn’t really remember it. It must have been pretty bad, though, if both of them had ended up here. Benji figured they’d been interrogating Ethan this whole time as well, judging from Ethan’s current physical state. Good luck with that. They’d get even less from Ethan than they would from Benji, and Benji wasn’t giving them a damn thing.

A man strolled casually into the room, looking between Benji and Ethan, sizing them up, Benji supposed. Benji didn’t think he’d ever seen this one before. He seemed intimidating, with an air of authority about him. Somebody important around here, then.

“We’ve tried to be reasonable with you two,” the man started suddenly. “The codes in exchange for your freedom. It’s very simple. And yet neither of you will cooperate.”

Neither Benji nor Ethan said a word.

“Very well.” The man turned to Benji. “We’ll see if we can make any progress this way.”

Benji felt himself swallow hard. He tried to keep his face frozen in place.

This is going to be bad.

Benji wasn’t even sure what exactly was being done to him. He knew it was far worse than anything previous. His whole body felt like it was on fire. He couldn’t pinpoint where the pain was coming from at any given moment because everything hurt. Tears streamed from his eyes in a constant flow. Benji channeled all his remaining energy into trying not to scream. He wouldn’t make this any harder on Ethan if he didn’t have to. He bit down on his lip with so much force that he was surprised he didn’t bite straight through it. Then again, maybe he did bite straight through it. There was blood in his mouth.

And then the pain intensified to a new level, and Benji couldn’t hold it back anymore.

His throat was raw from all the screaming he’d already done, but he couldn’t make himself stop. He just added it to the list of uncertain pains he was feeling throughout his body. He regretted that it had come to this. He knew Ethan wouldn’t give in. He knew Ethan was strong enough to handle this. But he also knew how hard this must be for Ethan to see, and even if Ethan wasn’t able to watch, Benji knew how hard it would be for him to hear. Ethan hated it when Benji got hurt, especially when he was unable to do anything to stop it.

After what seemed like an eternity, the man gave up his efforts on Benji and returned to the middle of the room. “This is getting us nowhere,” he growled, to no one in particular, it seemed. Benji let his head fall forward, gasping for breath, desperately trying to regain his composure and assess the damage done to him. Before he could fully recover, however, it occurred to him what was most likely going to happen next.

He looked up to see the man approach Ethan.

Benji found a spot on the wall and stared at it intently. He couldn’t look at Ethan. He couldn’t see what was happening. He didn’t think he’d be able to take it. It was hard enough hearing every little sound of every little thing being done to Ethan. Benji’s mind kept trying to figure out what the sounds were, coming up with such terrifying scenarios that Benji wondered if it might actually just be easier to see what was going on. No, he knew better than that. Even whatever horrible images his brain could cook up would never be as bad as actually seeing it happen.

Then Ethan cried out.

It wasn’t much. Not even really a scream. More of a yelp of surprise. But it was enough to push Benji over the edge. He did it without thinking, without even being able to stop himself because he didn’t realize what was happening until it had already happened.

“No, stop!”

Benji knew his mistake the moment the words left his lips. They hung heavy in the air of the now perfectly still room. Benji looked at Ethan, his mind a swirl of panic and fear and regret. Ethan looked back at him with overwhelming sadness in his eyes. Benji just hoped that Ethan could tell how sorry he was.

He’d given it away. He’d shown his weakness. And now Ethan was going to pay for it.

The man returned to his work on Ethan with renewed vigor. Benji couldn’t tear his eyes away now. His tears began flowing anew as he begged and pleaded for Ethan to be left alone. Each entreaty seemed only to be answered with something even worse being done to Ethan. Ethan let out another cry, and it spurred Benji into action again. He told a lie and prayed this man would buy it.

He didn’t, and Ethan suffered all the worse for it.

Benji was not giving this man what he wanted. That being said, he wasn’t sure he could watch Ethan die, either. His track record wasn’t too good so far. His only chance for the moment was to lie again and hope it was bought this time. As such, he had to make it as believable as possible. Benji knew he could do that.

All he had to do was stop holding back.

Benji let his voice pitch upwards towards hysterics. His tears turned to sobs, and he let them resonate in his chest, shoulders shaking, hands trembling as he reached out towards the nightmarish scene playing out in front of him. And when the time was right, he played his card.

“Please, please, stop it! I love him, stop hurting him, please, I’ll do anything!”

The man stopped and turned slowly towards Benji, who hung his head shamefully, sniffling pathetically. Benji had him on the ropes. He just had to finish selling it.

“So you’ll give us the codes?” The man stepped closer to Benji.

“Yes, but please, you have to stop — you can’t hurt him — you can’t —”

“We won’t.” The man’s voice had turned softer now, coaxing. “Just give us what we want and we’ll never touch him again.”

Benji let out another sob and let himself slump even further to the floor. He tailored his body language to express defeat — as well as he could with all of his injuries. Staring at the ground, Benji muttered his second lie.

It worked.

They were left alone in an instant. Benji crawled to Ethan as best he could, thankful that their captors had decided the locked room was enough in the way of restraints. He carefully lifted Ethan’s head into his lap and began stroking his hair, trying to ignore just how broken his body looked.

“I’m sorry, Ethan,” he whispered softly. “But it’s gonna be okay now, I promise. We’re gonna get out of here. We’re gonna be fine.”

All lies, of course. These people would find out soon enough that Benji had given them false information, and when they did, Benji and Ethan were both as good as dead. But he still ran his fingers through Ethan’s hair and vowed that they’d make it out alive.

He was pretty good at lying, after all.


End file.
